Gophers women gain Frozen Four by whipping North Dakota

Sarah Erickson remembers the Gophers women's hockey team riding a bus home from Bemidji, Minn., after a 2-1 loss to the Beavers on Oct. 29 and how the veterans talked about needing the newcomers to buy in to the program's culture.

The younger players listened, Minnesota won its next seven games to raise its record to 14-2, and the Gophers were on their way.

"If you can create a great culture," said Erickson, a senior forward, "not many teams can shut you down."

The culture Erickson talked about was evident Saturday afternoon as the Gophers scored the first five goals and downed North Dakota 5-1 in the first round of the NCAA women's hockey tournament in front of 1,630 at Ridder Arena. That earned them a trip to the Frozen Four on Friday and next Sunday in Duluth, Minn.

Minnesota (32-5-2) will play Cornell (30-4-0) in a semifinal matchup Friday after Cornell defeated Boston University 8-7 in three overtimes Saturday.

Erickson, who had a goal and two assists to lead the Gophers on Saturday, has been on two previous teams that reached the Frozen Four, only to fall short.

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," she said, "because I'm so happy we're actually going again."

"We kind of needed a perfect storm," Sioux coach Brian Idalski said. "We knew that coming in, that we'd need some great goaltending and some good bounces, and we didn't get that.

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The Gophers went ahead 1-0 just 1:28 into the first period when Emily West's seeing-eye shot through a screen hit the back of the net, and second-period goals by Sarah Davis, Amanda Kessel and Erickson made it 4-0. Erickson set up Jen Schoullis early in the third period, and the Gophers coasted from there into the Frozen Four.

"It's been a goal of this team ever since the beginning of the year, to make it to this point," Gophers coach Brad Frost said, noting that Erickson and his other six seniors, "from Day One, they set the tone."

The Gophers were knocked out a year ago by a 4-1 loss to Boston College in an NCAA regional, and that game remained implanted in goaltender Noora Raty's memory.

"I thought, 'That's not going to happen again,' " she said. "I was pumped just thinking about that game."

Raty finished with 28 saves.

Erickson labeled this team the best she has played on "by far," mainly because of balance and depth at every position. But it starts in goal, where Raty didn't give up anything until on a five-on-three goal for the Sioux 6:07 into the third period. That ended Raty's shutout streak at the equivalent of more than four games: 246 minutes, 53 seconds.

"Noora's a world-class goalie," Sioux forward Jocelyne Lamoureux said, adding that a key save by Raty against North Dakota's Josefine Jakobse with 5-1/2 minutes left in the first period and Minnesota leading 1-0 put a major dent in North Dakota's hopes.

Accoding to Frost, that's business as usual for the junior from Espoo, Finland.